Help?

[Guest alicesjx]

Hi

I'm Alice and am nearly 17 years old. I have just started sixth form at the same school that I attended for my secondary education. A lot of teachers, and my friends, have said to me that they're concerned that I have OCD. I have never seen a problem until I've started sixth form. I have really bad thoughts that if my handwriting isn't neat enough and my work isn't neat then my Mom (who suffers from manic depression) will kill herself and when my step-mom was pregnant earlier this year I believed that if my work wasn't neat then I wouldn't pass my exams and she would get angry and lose the baby. When my writing isn't neat I have to rip the page out and start again (I even tried to do this in an exam - whoops!) or if I can't I tap the table or anything I can, sometimes subconsciously, and cannot stop until I can resolve the situation. Today I was sat with a friend doing work and I wrote the wrong word in the wrong place and when I didn't have time to start again I started tapping and when my friend said I had no control over it, I argued it and timed how long I could not tap for and I only managed 8 seconds before tapping my feet instead.

I was going to tell my sixth form mentor about it to get help but don't want to be laughed at, because obviously I'm not diagnosed so wouldn't get any support at all. I also wondered if any of you could help me and give your opinion on whether I might actually have OCD.

Alice x

[Ruth]

i think you could have ocd but would urge you to make an appointment with your gp.cognitive behaviourial therapy works very well for ocd

[Guest jayjay89]

Hi Alice,

Sounds like ocd but it could be other things. I would recommend talking to your GP about it, but first ask your gp what they think ocd is. It's ridiculously annoying when you have a gp who isn't clued up.

I can identify with your concerns, I had many of them when I was younger, but cbt helped me over come heaps of them

Good luck!